Loblaw / Shoppers Drug Mart

Canada’s Loblaw Companies Limited, owner of the Loblaws grocery chain, hopes its $12.4 billion takeover of Shoppers Drug Mart is a prescription for a variety of challenges in the retail food sector. The deal was announced July 15, about a month after Sobeys—a major challenger to Loblaws’ mantle as Canada’s largest grocer—bought the Canadian assets of Safeway, including 199 in-store pharmacies.